Check out the hottest topics from the past week of the FFXIV general forum.

Despite a few minor fixes to Final Fantasy XIV last week, the ZAM forums have not been overly friendly to the new MMO on the block. Perhaps attitudes will change once the development team implements this newest content patch. Or, maybe the patch won’t do enough to make FFXIV more like World of Warcraft, causing some reviewers to intensify their cries of woe.

If you’re growing weary of the mounting criticism of FFXIV, then look to the bright side – not everyone is leaving the game because they don’t like it! Check out the top thread in the links below, and you’ll understand.

Brace yourselves, because this news is unexpected – but Square Enix might be banning innocent players for allegedly engaging in RMT activities. Yeah, I know, this isn’t very surprising considering the many unwarranted bans doled out in Final Fantasy XI. Still, given the seemingly fragile state of Final Fantasy XIV, wouldn’t you think that Square Enix would be encouraging people to play this game? Why all this double-secret probation hoopla at such a critical juncture?

If I handed out trophies for unique posters, this guy would get either the “I Never Played FFXI” award or the “My Memory is Only Rank 2” award. Not that I’m in favor of having to kill colibri over and over to get anywhere – wait, I’m sorry. Did I say colibri? I meant to say “dodos.” Not crab. I mean colibri… or dodos! Bah, whatever.

The name says it all. This veteran FFXI player is looking for a new MMO to tickle his fancy. Turns out, I know of a brand new MMO that was made by the creators of FFXI. This game uses the same basic races, has a more flexible job system and even better graphics and sound. The storyline is promising, and there’s a ton of content just waiting to be implemented. And the name of this game is… hmmm… let me think. It will come back to me soon.

Comments

I'm here to type my opinion like many others. I'm tired of people who tell anyone that is critical about the state of the game to return to WoW. That is just a juvenile one-liner to get out of a structured debate or to possibly just respond to a previous post.

SquareEnix has decades of experience when building games. This is not the first MMO, and I doubt it will be their last. Today's release of comments from developers is a testament to that end. They, SE, are extending the free-trial period for all people who create an account before October 25. This tells me that they are very aware of the current state that FFXIV is in. The game is far from finished, offers very little outside of guildleves, and can become really repetitive after a few weeks. Do I mind grinding mobs to gain levels for hours? Not at all. Do I mind picking up a few trades to help level my physical rank? Not at all. But the lack of diversity becomes cumbersome to say the least.

What puzzles my mind is that many things that are missing from FFXIV were implemented in FFXI because of player demand. If after almost a decade of being released one would think that things such as replying to tells, party features, or simple key-binding would be a no-brainer for FFXIV. However, for some apparent reason these things were left out among a long list of others that are planned for future patches. So what does this mean for a playing customer? One with great hopes for solid future in FFXIV? It means that one will have to wait for things to be implemented that were already functional in FFXI, when in my opinion, this time could be used to release new-content, or content that was delayed due to the nature of server stability in new MMO's.

Don't misunderstand me, please. SE got some things right with this game, but should people who spent money continue to do so monthly for a game that is definitely incomplete? Well, that will be up to the individual solely, but I must say that SE will need to deliver and deliver swiftly, because this game will be nothing more than a few servers in just a few months after release.

I'm a long-time fan of the FF series. I have helped many of my friends who picked up this game get through the beginning. Not because it is super difficult, but because it is almost impossible at times to figure out what one is supposed to do. I hope through the feedback of this community that this game can evolve and span many years like its predecessor. But it will take hard work and patience from its player base.

This isn't comparing it to any MMO, but comparing it to any state that one would wish a product to be in upon release. I would rather wait another year and it be complete than continue to fund something that isn't, but SE did give us hope with laying out a game plan, which I doubt anyone could say isn't an improvement.

Here's to hoping that FFXIV will flourish in the weeks and months to come. That it doesn't ever become WoW, EQ, or any other MMO, but one of its own. To set a new standard in the industry and to separate itself from the competition not by what it is lacking, but by what it is offering its players.

You can do it SE, just keep us all informed and you shall have your supporter's faith!

FFXIV is a great game, you just don't get things handed to you on a silver plate. The very thing I like about this game is that it is not smooth running. Things go wrong and it's very unpredictable. I play WOW since the beta and FFXI for quite some time. Half the fun of ffxiv is working things out. I can level a character on WOW with out even dieing it's so god dam easy. Crafting in WOW is all there and tells you everything you need to do etc. Some people may be looking for a WOW replacement but this isn't it. In some ways I haven't seen a game like this since EQ1. What's great is with ffxiv is you need to research, you need to write a heap of Macros, you need to spend a couple of hours getting your controls setup. People who throw this game in 5mins is prob the best thing for them as they won't have the patients for this game. ffxiv is also played very different to most games and the leveling is unique in a lot of ways. Yeah there are bugs but what game doesn't have a few especially a MMO. Ive heard some complain about things they don't have in the game but an MMO with over 5years is of course is going to have stacks more benefits. There certainly hasnt been a shortage of people playing ffxiv on the server I am on atm as there peoples chars where ever I go almost.

It is a common theme of ffxiv defenders, It's not WOW. This game was released basically half done, I mean come on the market wards should say it all. Not to mention the game just isn't that fun at this point. Just because we want a game we payed 50-80 dollars for to be fun doesn't mean we want it to be WOW and if you think they're not gonna take any ideas from WOW or any other MMO then..... FAIL. If I end up quitting this game it's not because it's not WOW it's because the game sucks, it's bad enough starting in November I'll be paying to play a beta.

This is stupid topic. Its 100% wow fans complaining about this game wanting to become easier. Everything goes slow, not fast as wow. Its suppose to be like that. We have plenty time to get to end game. Why rush to end game? then you will get boredom cuz nothing to do when u reach end of the game. You need to learn how to enjoy the game, not complaining!

There were several positive and informative threads this week that should be featured over these. The first one I suppose is relevant, but there are several threads made in the last week that would be more beneficial to the community to feature than what you decided to choose.

Here's some Hot Read Thursday Threads for you all who are tired of QQ threads:

Claiming that everyone who dislikes the current state of FFXIV is a WOW fanboy is a pretty common claim by people defending the game. I enjoy the game at times, and I'll stick around because I know it has potential, but I was really let down by the state it was released in.

Oh man. No way. I really hope they dont make FFXIV like WoW. I think people forgot how it was when the first FFXI and WoW came out. Let's face they too had major proplem like loot lag, servers crashing... I don't understand why people are so negative about this game since I played the beta with my friends and had a great time. Now I'm just waiting for the PS3 version, I hope they release it before schedule.

Because it's been like 5 years since WoW came out and a bit more since XI came out and it looks like it was built before them (when programming basic stuff like sorting, auto-follow, a tutorial or AT LEAST a useful instruction manual, and setting my own keybindings was actually difficult) but with pretty graphics (which aren't that great but somehow manage to best some of the beefiest computers out there).

WoW had a much more intuitive user interface when it came out which was one of the reasons it became so popular. It was easy to play (not to be confused with it being an easy game), it gave more than just grinding to do (if I want to grind, I'll go play MU Online or some other free game), and it had waaay more than the ridiculously low amount of different creatures there are on XIV out of the box.

These are SOME reasons why people, including myself, find this game a bit dull... we're in 2010 and releasing a game that seems to have been developed in 1995 (not considering graphics, of course) is pretty lame.

It doesn't look like SE has developed an MMO before and that's embarrassing; that said, the game will obviously improve with patches and whatever and I still hope that it will actually become playable at some point because, as of now, I haven't seen more than $10 worth of game in there (BTW, I bought the collector's edition and am pretty ****** that we got a helmet that looks and does pretty stupid as opposed to those who pre-ordered the regular one).